Britvic is samba-ing into the Brazilian soft drinks market, just in time for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The Tango and Robinsons maker said it would pay £114 million for squash-drinks firm Ebba.
Britvic, which considered merging with Scottish drinks maker AG Barr in 2013, has said it aims to double Ebba’s earnings by 2020 by introducing Britvic favourites like Fruit Shoot to the country, as well as helping to invest in and develop Ebba’s own brands.
Simon Litherland, Britvic’s chief executive, said the deal was a great opportunity to buy a high-quality business, in a substantial soft drinks market, with exciting growth potential.
Brazil is the sixth-largest soft drinks market in the world with sales growing at nearly 14% a year.
The existing management team will continue to lead the business.
The soft drinks market in the UK and Europe continues to be challenging and third-quarter group revenues were up just 1% compared with the same time last year.
Vimto-maker Nichols also said today that profits were up by 8% to £10.7 million, despite flat sales.
